Actually, I did read the wiki page. It was not my intention to spread misinformation, and I was very careful not to infer that I had come up with an alternative solution. The fact is the unit seemed bricked and wouldn't start up despite the battery being removed and replaced several times. Something other than charging the battery, removing the battery for more than 1 minute or reflashing the device caused the problem to go away completely. Even when the device has frozen due to a problem writing map data to the MMC card, and the remaining charge has been low, simply removing the battery has been enough to allow it to recover. This definitely wasn't the case 2 days ago. This may be a H/W issue specific to my N800 or it may be something that others experience, I don't know.

Hello again people,

Update on my n810 situation:

I haven't turned my tablet off since before Christmas, but since I have been unable to install Canola 2 I decided to see if there was a newer OS version available. Turns out 2.2007.50-2 is available now, so I gave it a try. My tablet would not start up when it needed to in order to take in the update via the USB cable and Nokia update utility program on my PC. After popping the battery for a few seconds (as has sometimes worked in the past), and then plugging in the AC adapter for a few seconds (as has sometimes worked in the past), it still wasn't turning on. Next I just left it sitting connected to the USB cable for a few minutes, and voila it just worked after three tries a few minutes apart. NOTE: multiple presses of the power button in rapid succession have NEVER worked for me, I just try one time every few minutes until it turns on.

I will be sending this defective unit in to Nokia for repair/replacement, once I can imagine being without it for a couple weeks.

NOTE: While demonstrating this baby to friends and relatives during the past couple weeks, I have noticed something. People in general are not quite ready for this type of device. The only thing anyone compares it to is the iPhone, which it beats hands down in every single measure of awesomeness except auto portrait/landscape display rotation. I love that this is not a phone, but I may choose to use it as such for free or very little money using Gizmo Project or Skype. I love that I can videochat with my grandpa (me on my n810, he on his desktop computer) using Gizmo Project. I imagine a day not too far off when miniature pocket computers like these will be more popular than laptops, notebooks, or full-sized tablets. Desktop at home for hard core gaming & serious work, minimachine with you everywhere else if you choose to bring it along. My phone is my minicomputer? Come on, Apple, quit misleading people about the future of handheld tech. Does everyone need phones? Yes. Does everyone need computers? Yes. Does everyone need to replace their phone every year or two? Usually. Should everyone have to replace their computer every year or two? NO NO NO NO NO NO!

Happy New Year to my fellow tablet-loving peeps out there!

This is a "for wharever it's worth" observation on the power issue. I just received my N800 for Christmas and also two spare Lemar batteries. What I observed was the following. When using the provided Nokia battery and charging it prior to use, I had several occurances of multiple attempts of failing to turn on, but persistant pushing of the on button- 4 to 5 times at most- turned on the N800 and it always booted up sucessfully. So you may ask, so what? Well, here is the interesting rest of the story. When I inserted the Lenmar batteries, from Staples, without charging them first (fortunately they came with a charge) I NEVER saw any start up or shut down issue......NEVER no mattter how many times I went thru the on/off sequence. However, once I charged the batteries in the N800, I USUALLY did see the on/off anomoly. So, I'm thinking and somewhat confirming the comments that there is a rat in either the HW charging circuit or in the OS charing SW that does not properly reset. This may be somewhat redundant to others but from another independent source.

Other than that the N800 is a dream. Connected Igo ultra slim BT keyboard and Anycom BT headset with ease and they both work like a charm. Haven't tried any DVDs, but there is plenty of info on this board on "how to's".

There seems to be hints that in some cases, the battery may not be able to supply enough power all at once to start up our toys, as if starting them draws more current in a short time than the battery can supply when it is partly drained.

There also seems to be hints that the problem may be related to a sleep mode or the device turning itself off after putting the device on charge.

Anyone who tries to start the device with many rapid button presses probably just hasn't clued in that you must hold the button until the splash screen appears, after many presses they finally accidently hold the button long enough to start it.

This is either to protect against accidental starts, or it's because holding the button gives the system the extra juice it needs to fire up, like the ballast on a fluorescent light.

Just to repeat my example, since it does not appear to have been acknowledged ...

If I put my N810 on charge and walk away without locking it, come back later, it will always be OFF when i return. take it off charge and try to start it properly by holding the button down ... it will not start. If I put it back on charge, it will start.

If I put my N810 on charge and walk away without locking it, come back later, it will always be OFF when I return. leave it on charge and try to start it properly by holding the button down ... it WILL start.

If I lock my N810, then put it on charge (or put it on charge and then lock it), come back later, it is always fine when I return, whether or not I take it off charge. It is not off, but in a low power mode. I simply unlock it and carry on. It will be charged up, and my emails, RSS feeds, and weather will already be up to date.

If while not on charge, I intentionally shut the device off and restart it properly by holding the button down ... rebooting it, without putting it on charge. It always starts up fine.

So, for me, the problem relates to:
- Leaving the device powered on but not locked when putting it on charge, leaving it to turn itself off when it has sat idle long enough while on charge.

Which again means the problem is either related to the self powerdown / sleep modes, or that it is expecting to see the same current available when it starts up as it had available when it shut off while on charge, or that there are times when the battery can not supply enough current at once to fire it up, ... our own little 'Apollo 13' problem.

Maybe a black splash screen would have made more sense

"If while not on charge, I intentionally shut the device off and restart it properly by holding the button down ... rebooting it, without putting it on charge. It always starts up fine."

I do the same, but upon intial charge of any battery, the N800 does not consistantly power up the first time while HOLDING down the button. after it boots the first time the "problem" goes away. BTW, not all recharges do I see the "problem". I the N800 is always powered off when I charge it. (I use the spare batteries as necessary, which has not been often, I seem to get a good amount of use out of them before they show low level.)

I only posted another observation for consideration. I don't see this as a big deal for me, just a slight annoyance that should not be there.

May be it is a "slight annoyance" for you. I use to think that too. As I use my tablet almost exclusiverly either at home or in my office. I plug the damn thing in and the problem solved. Not if you are travelling on the street in the wild wild east, with your whole documents, communication, maps, email, Skype phone depend on it and it wont *&$^%$ turn on. Try that, you will realize this is not a small matter ! I carried my 770 as it has NEVER failed me.


bun

Read here http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=14107

This is something that maybe is not so clear, so please forgive me if i'm repeating the obvious.
When the tablet is charging, it _is_ on.
It stays on as long as the charger cable is plugged in (and the cable connected to the power lines, of course).
This fact has probably already been stated elsewhere and should be obvious by the different time it takes to boot from real off (device off and no charger connected) and from "acting dead".
Another hint is the fact that the charging animation doesn't start immediately, when plugging in the charger in a _really_ off unit. It's because it is actually performing the first phases of the booting.

Similarly, when the charger is disconnected and the device was not showing the desktop (meaning that it was in acting dead mode), it will power off for good.

Pressing the power button right after unplugging the charger is likely to not obtain the desired effect (turning on the device, which is actually performing a shutdown sequence).

Said this, it is possible that there is either some sw or (somewhat unlikely on large scale) hw bug.

The simplest (and quickest) way to turn on a device that is in charging/acting dead mode, is to press the power button and let the unit complete the booting sequence _before_ pulling the cable.

Since there are 3 different watchdogs (1 sw plus 2 hw), it is possible that they kick in and generate a reset, in case of lockup due to some race condition. This can explain why sometimes the time it takes to reboot after becoming unresponsive seems to change. It's because the lockup can happen at any moment within the wd period and therefore it will persist for all the remaining part of such period, then the wd will generate a reset.

"May be it is a "slight annoyance" for you. I use to think that too. As I use my tablet almost exclusiverly either at home or in my office. I plug the damn thing in and the problem solved. Not if you are travelling on the street in the wild wild east, with your whole documents, communication, maps, email, Skype phone depend on it and it wont *&$^%$ turn on. Try that, you will realize this is not a small matter ! I carried my 770 as it has NEVER failed me.


bun"
I didn't say it wasn't a problem for all, just that I do not think, for me it's a big deal. BTW, since I've been using the Lenmar batteries, I cannot reproduce the power enigma. So clearly I do not have an issue any longer. The n800 works perfectly, all the time. Wierd, but true. I am still not saying it's a Nokia battery issue, but the facts are.....?????

Other strange N800 phenomina is that sometimes during boot up, the blue bar appears scrolling across the bottom of the screen and sometimes it does not, but in all cases it boots successfully.

In any case, I'm done with this thead for now. Keep a happy face and your N800 will be happy too.

This problem is all strangely familiar... the first release of OS 2007 back in Jan 2007 had a different but equaly annoying boot problem (boot loop, bug #957) and it seems like OS 2008 has suffered a similar fate.

A temporary workaround appears to now exist (post #137 - thanks Steph69) and it's only a matter of time until Nokia/Maemo identify the root cause and propose a permanent software solution.